Samana
Samana lies on the north-east coast of the Dominican Republic, part of the rugged island that Columbus named Hispaniola or 'Little Spain', a pedigree still palpable today in its lively mixture of Caribbean and Latin cultures.
The Samana Peninsula is arguably the island's most beautiful corner, with colourful little clapboard houses dotted among the coconut palms and pine trees that festoon the lower mountain slopes, splendid beaches in the Las Terrenas area, the 160 ft Rio Limon waterfall in the hills - and the coastal mangrove swamps of the Los Haitises National Park.
